The Only Place You Can Ride—And Drive!—Pacific Electric Red Cars From LA's Historic Streetcar System

I had no idea when I first visited the Southern California Railway Museum in Perris, California in 2015 (then called the Orange Empire Railway Museum) and saw the Pacific Electric Red Cars there...

circa 2015

...that just over 10 years later, I'd be in the driver's seat of not one but two of those very same streetcars. 

Photo Essay: The Life and Career of Elvis Presley, As Seen Through Graceland's Costume, Car, and Airplane Collections

It actually never really occurred to me that going to Graceland would mean more than just visiting the mansion that Elvis Presley lived in until his death in 1977. 

 

But actually there's more—a lot more—across the street, including the "Elvis: The Entertainer Career Museum."

Photo Essay: Beasts, Bagpipes, and Very Good Boys at Idyllwild's 4th of July Parade

I'd been wanting to go to the Idyllwild 4th of July Parade ever since the Idyll-Beast himself told me he marches in it every year.

Besides, I love a good small-town celebration of Independence Day—so a friend and I set out into the San Jacinto Mountains to watch the festivities on "the Hill," under the shadow of Tahquitz Rock.

Photo Essay: The 'Tunnel Tree' of the Northern California Redwoods

We were driving three hours south to Fort Bragg from Arcata, California, where we'd spent the night to watch the lineup of the Kinetic Grand Championship races in the morning. 

Our next stop was to ride the Skunk Train. 

But after we twisted and turned down the 101 South (a.k.a. the Redwood Highway), following the course of the Eel River's South Fork, we turned onto Highway 1 and saw a sign that caught our eye.

 

"Drive-Thru Tree?!" I exclaimed. And my passengers all chimed in, "Can we go?!"

Photo Essay: Kustomized Cars in Vegas, Courtesy of "The Count"

Every time I visit Vegas, I never have enough time to do all the things I want to do. 

And during this last visit, I wasn't feeling well and it was raining—so that really curtailed the amount of adventures I could have. 

But it gave me the opportunity to do an indoor activity that wouldn't require much energy on my part: take the free tour at Count's Kustoms car shop. 

Photo Essay: Looping Through Nevada's Scenic Valley of Fire

I seem to visit Valley of Fire every 11 or 12 years—my first time in February 2001, my second in October 2013, and my most recent in November 2024. But since it spans a whopping 40,000 acres, there was plenty more I could see.

 

This time I was at the eastern end of it, staying at a hotel in Moapa Valley and entering the park from the Northshore Road Toll Gate off Highway 169.

Photo Essay: Mascots, Memories, and Americana at the Roadside America Museum

I hadn't been to Texas ever on vacation—and the few times I'd gone on business trips (to Fort Worth, Houston, and Austin), I hadn't had a lot of time to go touring anywhere. 

So I wanted to take advantage of my eclipse trip to see a few of the sights of North Texas, for I may not pass that way again. 

We were staying in Whitney, about an hour and a half southwest of Dallas—which turned out to be kind of a difficult spot to call a taxi or shuttle to the airport. But fortunately, the nearby town of Hillsboro had a rideshare driver willing to make the trek—which meant I had just enough time to squeeze in the town's Roadside America Museum before heading back home.

It's located in a 100-year-old former Ford dealership building, where its owner Carroll Estes (no relation to the Estes Dairy Farm) will open the doors for you and give you a tour if you ring him up on the cell phone number posted out front.

Photo Essay: Stepping Foot on America's First Freeway, the 110 (a.k.a. Arroyo Seco Parkway) — Updated for 2024

[Last updated 4/6/24 7:38 PM PT—Added two photos of the Avenue 60 exit.]

Why do I do this to myself. 

That's what I was thinking as I sat waiting for the Gold Line (a.k.a. "A Line") Metro train at the Heritage Square station, numbered bib safety-clipped to my tank top. 

I'd parked just three stops away from the starting point of the "Run the 110" race I'd signed up for—a 10K, though I'd never done a 10K before, and although I had no intention of actually running it. 

But it was a special way of experiencing the 110 Freeway when it was closed to traffic—and for the first time in 20 years. 

Sure, I could've just walked on the 110 at my leisure, not gotten up at 5 a.m. and not hightailed it to South Pasadena for a 7 a.m. starting time. I could've just joined everybody else during the event known as "ArroyoFest," part of the 626 Golden Streets open street event. 

But I wanted to be held accountable to do the whole thing. I wanted to make sure I would go at all—knowing my habit of bailing on myself when I haven't gotten enough sleep or when I'm in a flare-up. 

And that meant paying good money to get a T-shirt, be assigned a number, and receive a medal for finishing. Even though I wasn't sure if I could finish the whole thing. 

 

 

Photo Essay: A Spanish Castle for Catholic Priests and Classic Car Enthusiasts in Riverside, California

Images of turrets, drawbridges, and moats might evoke Europe for most people—but Southern California has its fair share of castles, too. 

   

And I'm discovering new ones all the time. 

Photo Essay: Wildflower Boom Time in the Golden State's Carrizo Plain

"Have you been to Carrizo Plain?" he asked me. I answered, "Yup, a couple of times." (Actually it was three.)

"Of course you have," he said, because he knows me well enough. 

The last time I drove up to California's Carrizo Plain National Monument—the address says it's in Santa Margarita in San Luis Obispo County, but feels much more Central Valley/Kern County—was during the "superbloom" year of 2017. 

 

And although SoCal isn't technically experiencing a superbloom per se (although that term is entirely subjective), we've had a wet enough winter to warrant a return visit to see what kind of wildflowers had erupted this spring.

A Dream Encounter With the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile (Or, the Day We Had Hot Dogs For Breakfast)

The first time I ever got to see the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile up close, it was in Palm Springs in April 2021. (I might've seen one in the wild on the freeway or from a distance before that, but I can't quite remember.)

 

circa 2021

Taking My Punishment

Image by Edward Lich from Pixabay 

As a child who was wrongfully accused and convicted of a number of household crimes—from scratching my mother's wooden rocking chair and new bathroom wallpaper to pitting the cover of a borrowed paperback book on the kitchen counter—I learned early on how to shut up and take my punishments.

Photo Essay: The Automobiliana and Petroliana of the Segerstrom Shelby Event Center and Museum

I usually don't give up a chance to visit a car museum—whether I'm in Nashville, Tennessee or Las Vegas, Nevada. But sometimes it might take me a little while to get there. 

The Segerstrom Shelby Event Center and Museum opened in October 2021...

Photo Essay: Caddy Cars, Grocery Getters, and Marketeers at A Museum of Vintage Golf Carts

I'm almost always up for visiting any kind of car museum—and in Palm Springs last week, that meant making a stop to the National Museum of Golf Cars. 

 

Photo Essay: Barris Kustoms Prepares to Depart Its Home of 60+ Years (And Take the Batmobile With It)

By the time I first got to visiting Barris Kustoms in North Hollywood, California, its founder and namesake George Barris had already passed nearly three years before.

 

I think I had a sense back then that his car customizing shop—long known as "Barris Kustom City," long before Pimp My Ride—might not be long for this world once he was gone.

As Cerro Gordo Ghost Town Rises From the Ashes of a 2020 Fire, It Turns Away Visitors

I almost didn't write about this adventure because it felt like a failure. But I guess it was actually a partial success. 

And since I'm not exactly sure when I'll be able to ever complete the mission, I've decided not to wait—and share what I've got now, even though I found it a bit disappointing. 

But let me back up for a moment. 

In a constant boom-bust cycle that lasted nearly 100 years, the mining town of Cerro Gordo—in the Inyo Mountains of the northern Mojave Desert, near the 395 to the west of Death Valley—produced silver, lead (galena), and zinc ore at one time or another between 1866 and 1957.

I can't remember when I first heard of it. But I know I first tried to go sometime after 2013, after I'd begun working as a field agent for Atlas Obscura and thought that it would make for a great—albeit far-flung—excursion for our group.

Photo Essay: The Ever-Evolving Universal Studios Hollywood Studio Tour, 2021 Edition

I'd been to Universal Studios Hollywood twice as a tourist since 2015—but they were both at night, which meant I felt like I was missing out on the daytime experience. 

 

Especially when it came to the actual studio tour. 

Photo Essay: The Agricultural Beginnings of a Classic Car Collection

The Motte Historical Museum in Menifee, California had its grand opening in 2013, after being founded by John Victor and Evelyn Motte through their estate.   

 

The Mottes are one of the oldest pioneering families in Riverside County's Perris Valley, not too far from Temecula. They established Motte's Romola Farms in 1910—and in the 1940s, Frank, Charles, and John Victor partnered up to create the Motte Brothers agricultural enterprise.

Photo Essay: Cruisin' Through A Custom Car Show at Six Flags Magic Mountain

When I first drove through Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California back in November 2020, seeing the theme park that way just blew my mind—even in the dark, with only Christmas lights to illuminate the park's permanent features. 

So I jumped at the chance to attend the West Coast Customs Cruis’n the Park Car Show—this time during the day—which opened to the public the last weekend of February 2021. 

Pandemic Amusements: The Quest for Dinos

After hearing out my adventure through the Jurassic Quest drive-thru animatronic dinosaur show, a friend said, "You've been on a dinosaur kick lately."